Ethics, Communication, & Social Media

It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.
-Albert Einstein

Ethics, Communication, & Social media Social media is a collection of user-driven, web-based technologies including blogs, social networks and video-sharing platforms. Together, these media have revolutionized the way we communicate and share information. Because of its relative newness, and its vast and continually evolving nature, social media presents as a complicated and multi-faceted issue. Social media sites are infinitely diverse, ranging from wikipedia, the online crowd- sourced encyclopedia, to digg, the social bookmarking site that allows users to “like” or tag websites as well as sort through other users’ tags. The common denominator among these is the ability for users to interact with the application. The uses of social media are widely varied, from searching for a funny video clip to researching a product to reuniting with a long lost friend, and the use of each of these social media applications, carries with it unique implications. This paper will examine the advantages and disadvantages of social media use in our society. Specifically, it will look at the effects on the business, private, and political sectors both nationally and globally. The use of social media has become a relevant issue in nearly every imaginable field of business today. From multi-national corporations to work-from-home individuals, employers and employees alike can make use of social media to either their benefit or detriment. The benefits are clearly evident in areas such as marketing, productivity, and, communication, both internal and between business and consumers. Conversely, the detriments include: loss of productivity, negative impact on corporate image, and the ever-present danger of widespread dissemination of misinformation. Social media has revolutionized marketing. Businesses can advertise for free, target specific niche markets, and remain in a